Tropic Blade Online
by fourm
Summary: Reboot of my previous, and now deleted, story Tropic Blade. Kirito is an immigrant to the United States, as well as a top player from the beta test of Tropic Blade Online. In the States, he meets his neighbor, another top player. When it becomes apparent that the full release of the game is more than it seems, however, will Kirito and his new acquaintance be able to survive? AU
1. Chapter 1

This story is a reboot of the now-deleted story Tropic Blade. In that story, I made many mistakes in my plot and my writing, and I hope that this story will be better than its predecessor.

Disclaimer: I only own the parts of the plot I create and my original characters. I do not own Sword Art Online or even the computer on which I am writing this story, nor do I presume to own any of these things. Please don't sue me.

~Fourm

* * *

"Kazuto, I think you should get up," Suguha said. "It's like 10."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kazuto replied, stretching. "I'm just getting some jet lag, and I'm tired from the move."

He and Suguha had just moved to Massachusetts from Japan. They now lived in Cape Cod. They had just moved in last night. Or so Kazuto thought.

"How can you still be tired?" Suguha asked indignantly. "You've been asleep a whole day!"

"What?!" Kazuto asked. "Why didn't you wake me? That means I missed the end of the beta test for TBO!"

TBO, or Tropic Blade Online, was a VRMMO. Like other Full-Dive games, it used the new Nerve Gear to connect to a player's nervous system, allowing simulation of lifelike environments. TBO, however, was different from other full dive games. While others were mostly rudimentary games with no or very limited multiplayer and broken physics, Tropic Blade Online was a full MMO with near-perfect physics and a sense of reality that was missing in other games. Sure, it was a fantasy MMO, but the fact that it had no magic abilities and relied so heavily on skill rather than statistics, and created an avatar for each player based on their real-life appearance, gave a sense of realism that was unlikely to be recreated any time in the next ten years.

Kazuto had been one of the luckiest people on the planet when he scored one of the 100,000 beta tester positions. He was sent a free copy of the game and was allowed to play to his heart's content. During the three-month beta test, he had become an elite player, advancing further in the game's progression of tropical islands than any other he knew of. He had been excited for the final day's celebration, because he would be able to see how he ranked in level and accolades compared to the other testers.

Apparently, however, he had missed his chance. Suguha's scolding shook him from his reverie.

"Grandpa said there are other kids in the neighborhood who we should go meet." Suguha said. "I think it'll be good for you, all you ever do is play video games."

"And practice Kendo, and study, and go to school, and hang out with my friends," Kazuto objected. "Anyway, it's summer vacation now, and we're in a new country. I agree we should go try to make some new friends."

Kazuto and Suguha ate breakfast and then heard shouting down the street.

"That's probably them," Kazuto commented.

* * *

When they went outside to look for the source of the noise, they saw a group of children, ranging from no older than eight to someone who could easily be eighteen. The children were running around and shooting each other with nerf guns. The oldest one noticed Kazuto and Suguha as they approached.

"Time out guys," he yelled to his friends, and walked over. "You're Kazuto and Suguha, right? Your grandfather came by earlier to introduce himself. We're the only other house on this street, so I guess that makes us your neighbors."

He held out his hand, which Kazuto and Suguha shook. "I'm Liam. We're having a nerf war, if you'd like to join us."

"Sure, sound like fun," Suguha said before Kazuto could even think about it.

"Great. Have you guys ever used nerf guns before?" Liam asked.

They shook their heads.

"Well, there's not a lot to it. It's basically just a plastic toy gun that shoots foam darts." Liam said. "We have swords too, but we mostly prefer the blasters."

"We'll take swords," Kazuto said quickly.

He and Suguha had both learned Kendo since they could walk. They both had gone to nationals in Japan multiple times, and Kazuto had even won it once with his twin-bladed style.

"Sure," Liam said, and handed them a bucket of foam swords. "By the way, Kazuto, have we met before? I think I recognize you from somewhere."

"I don't think so, unless you took a vacation in Japan or played in the beta test of TBO," Kazuto answered, laughing.

"Oh, that's right! You were the top player in the beta! That's how I know you. You never showed up to claim your reward!" Liam exclaimed. "I'll fill you in on it after, right now I should get back to the nerf war."

Liam led Suguha and Kazuto over to the grassy area where the others were playing. Both of their houses were on a high edifice that overlooked the ocean, and was excluded from the rest of the city. This allowed each to be situated on opposite sides of a lightly forested and grassy area, where the kids were happily shooting at each other.

Once the rules had been explained to Kazuto and Suguha, they fit right in. Both naturals with their foam swords, they were each a force to be reckoned with.

Liam looked on with amazement as Kazuto deflected darts with his swords.

"Dude, that's awesome! I've never seen anyone do that," Liam said. "No wonder you were the best in TBO, you must have been great with the swords in game."

The nerf war eventually ended. No one had been keeping score, but it was clear that Kazuto had dominated everyone else. Even Suguha had stood no chance.

He and Liam eventually got to conversing about TBO. He discovered that Liam had also been a top ten player. They also discussed their fighting styles and experiences in game.

TBO had many fighting styles. Each player could tailor their own fighting style to their needs. Selections in weapons, armor types, and skills were not only all balanced but also allowed for a flexibility in fighting styles that could not even be matched in the real world. There was a system in place to help people learn and use their weapons, called the cardinal assist. It partially controlled a player's movement in exchange for a slightly limited reaction time and less flexibility on fighting style. Most of the top 10 players played without it and relied on skill, but for the other 900K players it was a godsend.

Kazuto, who used the name Kirito, had used his real-life skill with two swords from his prodigious Kendo abilities to maximize his damage output in the beta. Liam, whose name was Dracus in-game, used martial arts and ran around a lot, relying mostly on his parkour training, which he demonstrated.

In the week between the end of the Beta test and the start of TBO's official release, Suguha and Kazuto spent every day with the other children in the neighborhood. They went to the beach together, ate together, and even camped outside one night together.

Kirito and Dracus would meet up as soon as the game started.

* * *

"Hey! Kirito"

Kirito turned towards the voice, which he could only assume belonged to Dracus.

"Hey, how's it going?" Kirito replied.

"It feels great to be back! I'm already level five, want to go try that quest up on the cliff?" Dracus asked excitedly.

"Sure, let's go. What was the reward for it again?" Kirito asked.

"It was an amulet that negates fall damage. I really need it for my character build, but it's not essential for you I suppose. Still though, only ten thousand people can get the quest, so I'm sure you could easily sell off the amulet if you didn't want it," Dracus replied as they took off at a light jog out of the beginning town.

"Oi, you two!" a voice called.

Kirito and Dracus turned to see a red-haired man in his mid twenties running towards them. He had a curved sword at his waist and wore a red bandanna with a yellow stripe.

"My name's Klein," he continued as he caught up with them. "You two seem to know where you're going. I conclude that your sense of direction is evidence you must be beta testers. Would you mind giving me a quick tutorial?"

"Well, you see-" Kirito began.

"Sure, why not," Dracus interrupted. "We'll end up killing some things on the way to where we're going, may as well help a newbie learn the ropes."

The trio, while looking somewhat conspicuous with one in all black, one in all grey, and one in all red, made their way into the fields surrounding the Town of Beginnings.

"So, Klein," Dracus began to lecture. "How much do you know about TBO's combat system?"

"Not much," Klein grumbled. "This game should really have a better tutorial, all it teaches you is how to operate the menu."

"Alright then. Kirito, would you be so kind as to demonstrate for our student?" Dracus asked, taking a scholarly tone.

"Whatever," Kirito replied, still unhappy to be interacting with this new player.

"So, Klein. Tropic Blade Online is a fantasy VRMMORPG which relies on a player's mental cues to perform functions in the game. The game's main combat engine is comprised of a set of attacks, called sword skills, which allow the user to deal more damage than with a regular sword and to have the system assist in their movements. Kirito, if you would demonstrate on that boar." Dracus said, ignoring Kirito's surly attitude

Kirito slashed at a boar standing next to him, leaving it with a red gash on its side that oozed floating red polygons, the game's less gorey approximation of blood. As he did so, his sword glowed red.

"That, Klein, was a skill called horizontal. It can be performed with any weapon except fists, slings, and bows, and is easy to learn and initiate, as well as being unlocked by all players from the start. Why don't you try it? Hold your sword to the side, focus on activating a skill, and slash horizontally." Dracus continued.

Klein did as he was told, and was soon able to fight the boars by himself.

* * *

About half an hour later, Kirito and Dracus departed, bidding their protege farewell, and continued onwards toward the cliff far in the distance. Upon arrival, they promptly completed the quest to defeat the low level field boss they found, acquiring the amulet Dracus had mentioned. It was a silver stone embedded in a short, dark grey chain, and gave the user immunity to impact damage from falling.

As they began to walk back to town, Kirito and Dracus were enveloped in a strange light. When it cleared, they were in the plaza of the Town of Beginnings. It seemed that all of the million players on the server were in the square. While everyone was frantically looking around, the sky began to fill with red hexagons displaying the message Warning: System Announcement.

A red robed figure with no face oozed from the ceiling. It spread its arms wide and began to speak.

"Hello players, and welcome to my world. I am head programmer at ARGUS, and you are all trapped here now. I assume some of you have by now realized that the logout button is missing from the menu. This is not a glitch or bug, it is an intended part of the game. If anyone outside this game tries to remove your Nerve Gear, a strong microwave will be sent into your brain and destroy it. If you successfully remove your Nerve Gear, you will be named as an accomplice in my scheme, and go to prison forever. If you defeat all hundred islands of Tropic Blade, however, everyone will be released without harm." the figure said.

Players began a mass panic, running over each other, screaming, and crying.

"Oh, and I almost forgot one thing," the robed figure added. "If you die in the game, then you die in real life."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm not Reki Kawahara, nor do I own Aniplex USA. As such, I do not own anything except my original characters and plot. I do not presume to own anything that belongs to another entity. Please don't sentence me to death by taxes.

~Fourm

* * *

"What? There's no way that can be true, can it?" someone shouted.

 _It is_. The thought ran through everyone's head who had researched the technology involved in playing Tropic Blade. The electromagnetic waves used by the Nerve Gear to communicate with the brain could fry someone's brain without even exceeding its built in battery.

"Why would you do something like this?" people were shouting at the cloaked figure.

"Funny you should ask," it chuckled, "I have a whole host of reasons. I wanted to create the perfect social experiment, with the ability to observe interaction between people on a large scale. I also wanted to see if a group of gamers could stand up to serious odds and challenge, and to that end, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. Now, I have a corporation to run and likely police to run from, so I bid you all adieu."

The robed figure disintegrated. Players started shouting, cursing, and crying. Kirito and Dracus looked to each other.

"I know we're both mostly solo players, so I won't ask you to party with me. Just don't die, okay?" Dracus asked.

"Yeah, you too. I'll probably see you around. I assume you're going to try farming out an area to get ahead?" Kirito replied.

"I'll go south, you go north," Dracus said. "That way we aren't affecting the other's progress."

Tropic Blade's islands followed a generally similar layout. An Island's starter town was in the center, with the difficulty increasing as one went towards the outside of the island to the north or south, while east and west would yield equal difficulty to their corresponding north/south coordinate. Around the islands were beaches with no enemies, and oceans full of prohibitively difficult enemies, usually up to ten levels higher than the island's boss.

Dracus grabbed Kirito's arm in a Roman-style handshake.

"I'll see you later. I expect you to remain one of the best players," Dracus said, before running south out of the plaza.

Kirito darted north, leaving the confused players behind. There was now no option. He wouldn't let this game break him.

* * *

 _One month later…_

Kirito leaned on the wall. It had been a month since the game of death had started. Twenty thousand people were dead. Most had been just plain unlucky. Either way, he was glad not to be among them.

He was in town because a meeting was supposedly taking place the town due east from the Town of Beginnings, the more capable players of the game were meeting to discuss the first boss of the game. Kirito hoped someone else had some valuable insight to the boss, because he personally didn't know anything about it. He had anonymously written most of the combat section of a beginner's guide that many of the beta testers circulated amongst the newbie players, but he hadn't seen the boss since the beta, and didn't want to accidentally circulate any false information, especially with the stakes.

He arrived at a coliseum where the meeting was taking place. He sat down near the back, hoping not to be noticed unless there was no alternative. He was fairly antisocial, and didn't want to deal with anyone who he didn't need to.

A blue-haired man who looked to be in his early twenties clapped to quiet the crowd of about fifty players.

"Hello everyone, and thank you all for being here," he shouted, "my name is Diabel, and my party found the boss room for this island."

There was a collective gasp from the players. Kirito continued looking on impassively. He had deduced that the meeting was to discuss the boss, and it would have been pointless to call the meeting together if the boss hadn't been found.

"We were hoping to recruit as many of the strongest players as possible. If we can, the boss should be relatively easy. We do not know if it remains the same as it was in the beta, so any help from beta testers would be welcome," Diabel continued.

At this, a short man with brown hair that made him look like a cactus stood up.

"I need to get something off my chest," he said. "I think there's a group of players here who owe us all an apology."

Kirito cringed. He could see where this was going. The man bounced down the steps and turned to face the crowd.

"The Beta testers!" he announced. "They left all of us newbies in the dust, and took all the good hunting grounds so that no one else could progress."

"So Kibaou, what would you have them do?" Diabel asked.

"I think the beta testers should surrender to us all the loot they got from advancing faster than everyone else, and publicly apologize for stealing their resources from those who really needed them." Kibaou ranted.

"Can I say something?" a voice called.

Everyone looked up to see a teenager in all grey sitting on one of the columns around the coliseum. He jumped down from the column to the floor of the arena, rolled, and stood up right in front of Kibaou.

"Just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly, you say that beta testers stole from everyone else, refused to help the new players, and should give up everything they've gotten by doing so?" he said.

"Yeah, that's right," huffed Kibaou

The grey figure turned to the crowd. Kirito recognized him as Dracus. He took a small book out of his pocket.

"Everyone has one of these. This is a beginner's guide, which was written and distributed by the beta testers. Everyone had equal access to this information. I even wrote the part on skills myself." Dracus said.

"Furthermore, I didn't steal anything from anyone. I went straight from the town of beginning's south to the edge of the island where, as anyone who read the guide knows, the most dangerous mobs are." he continued, before turning to Kibaou.

"In a way you're right. I got loot that no one else had access to. The difference being that I got my loot not by taking advantage of the time it took for new players to learn the ropes, but by going places that are prohibitively difficult for anyone else. Even so, I'll give you most of my items and all of my money," Dracus said.

He manipulated his menu, taking off his armor, his sword, and holding out a large bag of money. He was left in a grey t-shirt and joggers, with the fall damage amulet on his neck as his only remaining item.

"This should be enough to get you and four other players ready for a boss fight against the level ten boss on this floor. I won't be there, because I have something else to do that's more important, but I wish you all the best of luck," he said, before leaning towards Kibaou.

"Don't ever ask me or anyone else for handouts again," he whispered.

Dracus then threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. When it cleared, he was gone. Diabel tried to regain control of the meeting.

"Alright, that was … enlightening, but can we all calm down now please?" he asked.

"We should all group up into parties of six, and I will divide the squads so that a few attack the boss and the rest keep the minions off of them," Diabel continued. "I'll see you all in the plaza tomorrow to set out on our journey. For now, group up and keep your spirits up. If we work together, we can do this."

Kirito looked around, and saw that most people had grouped up already. Off to his left, someone in a maroon cloak was sitting alone. He shuffled over.

"Hey, I'm Kirito," he said. "I don't really know you, but they say we're supposed to team up and it looks like you don't have a party. Would you like to join me?"

"Sure, why not?" she replied. Kirito was surprised to find that this person was a girl.

"Great. I'll see you in the plaza tomorrow. What's your name by the way?" Kirito asked.

"I'm Asuna"

* * *

Dracus grumbled as he climbed up the cliff. He was beginning to regret taking this route to the monastery. He had already fallen off the cliff twice and been saved by his amulet. Free climbing in Tropic Blade Online was very difficult, and although his unique skill helped, it was still a grueling process.

Unique skills were a point of contention among players of the game. Each player would be given a unique skill when they hit level ten, and it would be created based on their real-life abilities. Dracus' skill was parkour, and it allowed him to jump farther, run through difficult terrain faster, and analyze nearby terrain just by looking at it. He was pretty sure he knew some other players' skills as well. Kirito most likely had a dual-wield skill, as evidenced by his prowess in real life, and Dracus was willing to assume some of the other players at the boss meeting had unlocked theirs too.

Dracus continued climbing, all of his muscles aching. He was a gymnast, not a climber, and this was starting to wear him down. Even though TBO was a game, muscles still tired, ached, and cramped just like in real life. At a point, they would stop working altogether.

Dracus was on the cliff to get to a monastery where he could learn a special skill. During the beta test, he had been the eighth ranked player, but he was the only player in the top thousand who used martial arts to fight. This skill was why he was able to remain competitive without a weapon.

Martial artists like Dracus lost a significant portion of their damage output potential because they weren't using a weapon. The magical aspects on weapons were too great to pass up for most players, and therefore very few chose to use their hands and feet. The only real advantage to martial arts was more flexibility in fighting style, and the potential for faster attacks compared to heavy or two-handed weapons.

In any event, Dracus found himself scaling a cliff to get the special skill. After two more hours of climbing, eventually having to hold a light crystal between his teeth to see, he managed to pull himself over the ledge into a cave. He saw a man with silver robes approach him.

"Welcome to the monastery of the Flaming Crane. Do you wish to learn?" the npc asked.

"Absolutely," Dracus replied, still catching his breath.


End file.
